By ALAN BAVLEY

The Kansas City Star

GARVEY SCOTT/The Kansas City Sta

Persian Gulf War veteran Chris Kornkven (left) greeted Rainbow,
a female Rhodesian ridgeback, as fellow Gulf War veteran Anthony
Hardie met Kenji, another ridgeback, and his handler, Joan
Esnayra. The dogs demonstrated how they could help troops with
post-traumatic stress disorder during a military health research
conference this week in Kansas City. Kornkven has PTSD.

Can a canine companion soothe the volatile emotions of a soldier haunted by
post-traumatic stress disorder?

It may sound far-fetched, but the Department of Defense wants to find out.

It is spending millions of dollars on medical research projects like this
that may yield groundbreaking results but are too speculative for other
government agencies to consider.

So the Defense Department is financing a $300,000 study that will pair troops
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with dogs trained to sense when their
masters are about to have a panic attack and give them a calming nudge or
nuzzle.

These psychiatric service dogs have been assisting people with a variety of
mental illnesses since the late 1990s. About 10,000 such dogs are now in use.

New but preliminary research suggests that the dogs may be particularly
helpful for people with PTSD.

And that has the military interested.

“It’s a powerful intervention. We expect a very large effect,” said research
psychologist Craig Love.

Love will be conducting the study at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center with
Joan Esnayra, founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society.

The two researchers presented their work Thursday during a military health
research conference held this week in Kansas City. The meeting featured the
findings of more than 300 researchers sponsored by the Defense Department.

Love and Esnayra brought two service dogs with them, stunning Rhodesian
ridgebacks that drew the attention of many people at the conference.

“Absolutely beautiful animals. Very well behaved,” said Chris Kornkven, a
Persian Gulf War veteran from Helenville, Wis., who stopped to pet the dogs.

“They seemed like they would be really helpful, particularly for individuals
living alone,” said Kornkven, who has PTSD. “I think (a service dog) would give
them some independence.”

People who use psychiatric service dogs have the same legal rights as those
with Seeing Eye dogs to take their dogs into restaurants, buses or other places
where animals usually are not allowed.

The dogs can serve their owners in several ways. For example, they can sense
when someone with bipolar disorder is becoming manic and give an alert by
barking or nuzzling. The dogs also can provide a reality check to people
experiencing hallucinations; if the dog does not react to voices, it is
assurance that no one else is in the room.

Love and Esnayra surveyed 39 people with PTSD who were teamed with
psychiatric service dogs.

Eighty-two percent have reported fewer PTSD symptoms since they have had the
dogs, and 40 percent said they were using fewer medications.

“The longer the team had been together, the more likely they were reducing
symptoms and medications,” Esnayra said.

But the researchers said they had often faced skepticism from the scientific
community about the value of the dogs.

“It’s too touchy-feely,” Esnayra said.

That didn’t deter the Defense Department.

“Sometimes the scientific community is conservative,” said Capt. E. Melissa
Kaime, director of the Defense Department’s Congressionally Directed Medical
Research Programs.

“Where there’s a good idea but not much data, we’re willing to take a risk.”

The Defense Department has measures in place to make sure that innovative
ideas get a fair hearing, Kaime said.

When the department sends applications for research grants to its review
panels, it deliberately leaves out the names of the scientists and their
institutions, so decisions are based on the merits of their proposals and not
their reputations.

“It levels the playing field and stimulates creativity and fresh ideas,”
Kaime said.

Love and Esnayra received funding for a small, 18-month “seedling” study that
could lead to a bigger project if it yields positive results.

Ten troops with PTSD will receive a psychiatric service dog and professional
dog training, along with conventional treatment. A comparison group will receive
treatment alone.

Every three months, the troops will take psychological tests and have their
stress hormone levels checked.

The Defense Department is involved in more medical research — and more kinds
of research — than might be expected.

It funds combat-related work on such topics as Gulf War illness, traumatic
brain injury and physical rehabilitation. But it also tackles research on
childhood asthma, food allergies, osteoporosis and multiple sclerosis, among
other maladies.

Advocates for various medical conditions have been pleased with how the
Defense Department dispenses its research money. Illness survivors and family
members are included on the panels that review grant applications.

The department started its broad medical mission in 1992 when breast cancer
research advocates pressed Congress for more funding. Instead of all the money
being funneled to the National Cancer Institute, $25 million went to the Defense
Department.

Since then, the Defense Department’s portfolio of medical research has grown
steadily. Appropriations have totaled more than $5.3 billion.

“Congress has been impressed with how we administer our programs. We’re very
efficient,” Kaime said.

Mills: In the Northwest,
there is a Prison Puppies (Puppies Behind Bars
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=83d_1212303763 ) program that gives trained
dogs to veterans and others who need service dogs. One dog helps a vet go
shopping by going ahead and checking around the isle to show that it is ‘safe’
for the Vet with PTSD to go to the next isle. Prisoners also receive a great
benefit by caring and training their dog.